<dd>January 31, 2009</dd> HOUSTON - <!--
-->— Exxon Mobil Corp. reported on Friday a profit of $45.2 billion for 2008, breaking its own record for a U.S. company, even as its fourth-quarter earnings fell 33 percent from a year ago.
The previous record for annual profit was $40.6 billion, which the world's largest publicly traded oil company set in 2007.
The extraordinary full-year profit wasn't a surprise, given crude's triple-digit price for much of 2008, peaking near a then-unheard-of $150 a barrel in July. Since then, however, prices have fallen about 70 percent amid a deepening global economic crisis.
-->— Exxon Mobil Corp. reported on Friday a profit of $45.2 billion for 2008, breaking its own record for a U.S. company, even as its fourth-quarter earnings fell 33 percent from a year ago.
The previous record for annual profit was $40.6 billion, which the world's largest publicly traded oil company set in 2007.
The extraordinary full-year profit wasn't a surprise, given crude's triple-digit price for much of 2008, peaking near a then-unheard-of $150 a barrel in July. Since then, however, prices have fallen about 70 percent amid a deepening global economic crisis.
